Electronic Learning Communities as a Support for Building Relationships with Students in a Statewide Virtual High School

This qualitative case study used Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice (CoP) framework to analyze how the ongoing electronic learning community (eLC) process at an established state virtual high school (SVHS) supported online teachers in building relationships with online students. Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP), which describes the participation of new CoP members as they move toward full membership, was used to examine the participation and perspective of new eLC members at SVHS. Elements of LPP were evident in case study data, particularly in the way the eLC process granted new members access to resources and to the practice of other members. Other elements of LPP were less visible in the eLC process, such as becoming and conferring legitimacy.